All articles tagged with #voting rights
Heather Cox Richardson argues that Trump is abandoning governance to tilt the 2026 election in Republicans’ favor—firing election officials, pressuring Congress on voting-restriction measures, and tightening security and renovation work at the White House—while federal courts push back on DOJ tactics and safeguards for free and fair elections loom ahead of the midterms.
A bipartisan housing bill will become law at midnight without President Trump’s signature after he refused to sign in protest of a separate voting-restrictions measure; the 21st Century Road to Housing Act passed Congress with broad margins and will take effect after a 10-day countdown once Speaker Mike Johnson sent it to the White House. Democrats criticized Trump’s stance, while he has also fired the remaining commissioners of an independent election body, fueling midterm concerns.
The Justice Department says it will send election monitors to 15 jurisdictions across six states for the 2026 primary season, framing the move as routine monitoring, while also issuing nationwide letters warning election officials about potential criminal liability for noncitizen voting; monitors will review language access, disability access, and whether polling places operate for required hours, with the program potentially expanding before the general election amid a broader focus on alleged voting irregularities.
President Trump urged GOP leaders to attach the SAVE America Act voting reforms to a defense-spending bill using reconciliation to bypass the Senate filibuster, aiming to pass both before lawmakers’ summer recess. House Speaker Mike Johnson intends to try voting-restrictions again via the budget bill, despite conservative pushback. The reforms would require proof of citizenship to register and a photo ID to vote. Even if the measure advances, Senate approval remains uncertain and time is tight with lawmakers leaving in late July.
Speaker Mike Johnson says the House will once more attempt to pass the Trump-backed SAVE America Act by attaching it to a budget reconciliation bill to bypass Senate obstacles, a plan likely doomed by Senate rules and a parliamentarian ruling. Trump has pressed Republicans to act, arguing it would require strict voter ID, proof of citizenship, and limit mail-in ballots, potentially disenfranchising millions, but past reconciliation attempts and hardline opposition have stalled the measure. If passed, it would echo one of the most restrictive voting efforts in recent memory, a move that remains uncertain as the Senate would still face procedural barriers and timely midterm pressures.
House Speaker Mike Johnson says Rep. Anna Paulina Luna was wrong to block votes tied to the SAVE America Act, but downplays any fallout, insisting the GOP remains aligned and plans to repackage the election-integrity measure to win Republican support despite Senate hesitations.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he plans to move President Trump's voter ID legislation—the SAVE America Act—through the budget reconciliation process when Congress reconvenes, arguing it can pass with a simple Senate majority and reach the president's desk. The plan follows a recent GOP revolt that derailed a procedural vote, and Johnson says he’ll pair the measure with a must-pass defense bill to pressure the Senate, despite doubts from many Republicans about reconciliation and the filibuster. Trump has pressed for stronger voting restrictions, while Senate Republicans remain divided on the tactic.
Anne Kim argues that recent Supreme Court rulings and related political trends mark a move toward a Trumpian America defined by exclusion, racial resentment, and discrimination against marginalized groups (trans athletes, refugees, Black voters), even as the court reaffirms birthright citizenship. She contrasts this with Obergefell v. Hodges and critiques the current court’s direction, using the ‘Great American State Fair’ as a metaphor for a partisan, spectacle-driven national narrative that centers white Christian conservatism and top-down executive power.
The Supreme Court has moved rapidly to reshape U.S. elections by curtailing a core minority-voter empowerment measure, enabling state-level gerrymandering and loosening campaign-finance rules—changes analysts say could tilt the playing field toward Republicans and provide a midterm boost.
The DOJ has filed an appeal in California v. Trump after a Massachusetts judge blocked key parts of President Trump’s anti-mail voting executive order in 23 Democratic-led states plus D.C., ruling the order exceeded presidential power and intruded on state authority to run elections. The appeal argues the plaintiffs lack standing and that the order is not self-executing and relies on existing laws; if the ruling stands, USPS could be barred from delaying mail ballots and federal agencies could not assemble nationwide voter lists. A separate universal USPS injunction remains contested, with the DOJ seeking to stay that injunction while the First Circuit reviews the case, as other related lawsuits proceed.
A federal judge blocked USPS’s proposed rule to restrict mail-in ballots, siding with the NAACP and ruling the plan likely violates a 2021 settlement on timely election mail, thereby hindering Trump’s efforts to curb mail voting before the November elections.
A federal judge ordered DHS to roll back upgrades to the SAVE system that turned it into a bulk voter citizenship checker, leading to the disabling of bulk upload and partial SSN searches. Before the halt, SAVE had been used to screen more than 67 million registered voters, flagging thousands as noncitizens—many later found to be citizens. DHS has not clearly confirmed the shutdown of the expanded features, prompting concerns about evading the injunction.
The latest Supreme Court term expanded presidential power over federal agencies and upheld several Trump policy moves, while weakening civil-rights protections—most notably by narrowing voting rights—along with rulings on birthright citizenship and LGBTQ rights, signaling a major shift with potential election and minority-protection implications.
The Supreme Court’s Watson v. RNC decision upholding state grace periods for mail ballots has spurred conservatives, led by Cleta Mitchell, to push for lawsuits aimed at ending or narrowing early voting, even as the majority defended its legality and several justices warned against undermining vote access.
After the Supreme Court upheld counting late-arriving Mississippi mail-in ballots, Trump urged Congress to pass the SAVE America Act to require nationwide voter ID and curb no-excuse mail voting. The bill, led in the House by Chip Roy and in the Senate by Rick Scott, is co-sponsored by Sen. Cassidy, who pushed back against the president’s critique as the effort faces mixed GOP support and potential clashes with a court ruling the bill could affect.